DRUG ABUSE

The Insite Experiment

The Harper government is clearly uncomfortable with the idea of
Vancouver's supervised drug injection site. The facility -- Insite --
provides addicts with a place to safely inject their own drugs using a
sterile needle under the supervision of a nurse.

Concern is understandable. The program appears to offer a safe harbour
for junkies. No one wants to encourage drug abuse.

And, as it stands, the Conservative government's anti-drug plan has no
provision for "harm reduction" strategies such as Insite. Instead, the
Tories have focused on preventing illegal drug use, treating addicts
and targeting producers and dealers.

So far, the government has refused to extend Insite's exemption from
federal drug laws. Without the exemption, Insite's doors will close on
June 15.

It's also telling that the government continues to push the idea that
the scientific studies of Insite's program are conflicting and
inconclusive. The fact is that there have been 22 peer reviewed papers
published on the safe injection program -- the only one of its kind in
North America -- and they have all shown positive benefits to both
drug users and the community.

Among the benefits are minimized harm to addicts, reduced rates of
transmission for HIV-AIDS and a greater use of rehabilitation programs
- -- which are offered at the Insite facility.

Neil Boyd, a criminologist at Simon Fraser University, also says the
safe-injection program has led to a "modest decline" in public drug
use. Boyd conducted a cost-benefit analysis of the site and says it
has returned between one and four times the cost of running it in
savings to health care and law enforcement. He also found that local
police, residents and businesses support expansion of the program.

An independent scientific review also led Health Canada to recommend
that Insite's mandate be extended and similar programs be tried in
other cities.

Obviously, any program that appears to condone the use of illegal
drugs is going to be controversial. And it's true that safe injection
sites alone aren't going to solve the myriad problems associated with
addicts whether it's crime, the exploitation of users by dealers or
wasted human potential.

However, what safe injection sites might offer communities is a tool
that can help, and that's exactly what researchers are saying. It
would be wrong for the Harper government to shut down the Vancouver
centre on June 30 simply based on its own ideological discomfort with
the program.